Welsh 4/5: learning through translation
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- Start Date: 07 Nov 2025End Date: 12 Dec 2025Fri (Daytime): 10:00 - 11:00OnlineFull fee £59.00 Senior fee £47.00 Concession £38.00
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What is the course about?
Enhance your understanding of the Welsh language by completing Welsh > English translations of factual texts. This structured and supportive course will help you understand the differences between the grammars of Welsh and English. Your attention will be drawn towards structures and idioms in Welsh that can't be directly rendered in English and encourage you to think of alternative ways of expressing meaning.
Please note: this is not a formal or accredited translation course. Instead it's an opporunity for learnes of Welsh to use translation as a tool to improve their grammatical accuracy and idiomatic/cultural understanding of the language.
What will we cover?
This is a practical online translation course. You will translate a range of short factual texts e.g. news texts, opinion pieces, reviews, blogposts and discuss your work in class. Each week you will complete a translation in advance and prepare accompanying notes on difficulties you encountered. During the 1hr weekly session, the class will work together to clarify and solve difficult points of translation.
Students will also use machine translation tools and compare the outputs against human translations.
What will I achieve?
By the end of this course you should be able to...
- recognise a range of different writing styles in Welsh and set about recreating them in English.
- interpret Welsh texts with greater subtlety, and with enhanced knowledge of dialectual differences and Welsh-speaking cultures.
- identify areas of Welsh grammar and idiom that cannot be directly rendered in English.
- identify areas of Welsh grammar that you find challenging in order to re-focus your language learning efforts.
What level is the course and do I need any particular skills?
Students should be studying on a Level 4 or 5 Welsh course or have equivalent experience (i.e. be at or above B2 level). For more information on the language level requirement for this course, please email: languages@citylit.ac.uk
Students must be able to write fluent, idiomatic English (native or near-native speaker, C1 English as a minimum) and be willing to explore different registers and styles.
How will I be taught, and will there be any work outside the class?
This is a practical, participative course in which students will be required to prepare translations for discussion in class. Homework will be set every week, which students should be willing and able to complete homework in order to benefit fully from the course.
Are there any other costs? Is there anything I need to bring?
Based on tutor's material.
When I've finished, what course can I do next?
Continue studying translation in Term 2 where we will focus on translating short extracts from works of fiction.
WELSH: Jack was brought up in the traditionally Welsh-speaking heartland of north Pembrokeshire. He has taught Welsh to adults since 2017 both at City Lit and beyond. In 2023, he completed his PhD at Ysgol y Gymraeg (Cardiff University) on Welsh learners’ pronunciation. Jack continues his particular interest in pronunciation both in his classes and through teaching dedicated pronunciation workshops at City Lit. SWEDISH: A keen language learner, Jack began his Swedish learning journey at City Lit and quickly became obsessed by this fascinating Germanic language. Jack has an advanced certificate in Swedish from Folkuniversitetet (Göteborg) and now coordinates Swedish language courses at the College. As a tutor on Swedish grammar workshops and beginner level courses, Jack enjoys helping learners to overcome the challenges that he himself faced as a learner.
Please note: We reserve the right to change our tutors from those advertised. This happens rarely, but if it does, we are unable to refund fees due to this. Our tutors may have different teaching styles; however we guarantee a consistent quality of teaching in all our courses.